Muslim Women Right to Pray at Mosque Upheld

Hyderabad: A two-judge panel of the Telangana High Court upheld the right of Muslim women to enter a mosque and offer prayers. The panel directed authorities to make arrangements for women to offer prayers separately at the mosque.

The panel comprising Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao was dealing with a writ appeal filed by the Mutawalli Committee of Ibadat Khana E Hussaini. The panel upheld the right of the women to enter a mosque but expunged from the order of the single judge various interpretations given to the verses from the Quran.

Earlier the Anjuman E Alavi Shia Imamia Ithna Ashari Akbari filed a writ challenging the action of the Mutawalli Committee denying access to women of the Akbari sect to perform majlis and prayers in the mosque which was allowed by a single judge. Against the order, the writ appeal came to be filed. It was conceded before the bench that the right of the women to enter a mosque was not in dispute and that both men and women could enter and offer prayers in a mosque.Women were only prohibited from leading prayers at the mosque.

The panel recorded the said submissions, expunged the interpretative clauses of the Quran from the judgment and further directed the mosque authorities to make arrangements for women to offer prayers separately at the mosque.